Treehugger: Traffic Lights Replaced By…Courtesy?
Drachen, a small Dutch city with around 50,000 residents has removed almost all of its traffic lights. Major intersections have been converted to roundabouts, smaller intersections just let drivers work make decisions on their own. Basically, it’s anarchy. Anarchy that has completely eliminated dangerous crashes and road fatalities and created a surge in bicycle and pedestrian traffic.
Oh, I love roundabouts, no matter if small or big ones. Indeed there is a slight tendency in Europe towards roundabouts instead of traffic lights, especially in the outer skirts of big cities.
And I do prefer a speed limit as well, even if Germans reading this now might start disliking me (Germans enjoy fast driving)… Recently in Lithuania, it was such a relaxed driving with a speed limit of 120 km/h.
120 km/h “relaxed”! Driving must be so different in Europe, over in these parts, that’s generally the fastest speed limit you’ll find. That’s interesting, though, considering my reaction to this story, which was that such an idea would NEVER work in America–or at least in the Northeast, where I know the drivers–not in a million years. Drivers around here are too aggressive, the idea of courtesy on the road wouldn’t be very feasible. But where it works, it looks like a fantastic idea…
I suppose in America, we should protect the timid and discourteous alike
Attitudes are catching. I notice around here we usualy leave a polite distance between us So much depends on that first car following. And we have a stretch of a couple miles that are pretty hard to pass cars on. Most people relax and know this too shall end. In the east it made me nervous. Everyone seemed to tailgate.
I was in Sioux Falls when the electricity went off. People seemed to realize courtesy was the only way to go. They took turns quite well.